The Chase
by JDX
Summary: Book 1 of the Neo Age Saga. Piccolo and Android 17 are on the run from Doctor Gero, but he has decided to release androids 13 through 16 to help. Will they survive this new threat? And what is this strange energy that appears in every battle they fight?
1. On the Run

Chapter 1:

On the Run

The silence echoed through the backstreets of Orange Star City.

                                                                                                         Not even the rats were out on a cold night like this.

But there was somebody still awake.

The door of an old boarded up house cracked open a few inches, and the eyes of a handsome teenager peered out into the night. Satisfied that the coast was clear, he stepped out, quietly closing the door behind him. From the other end of the street, a tall, green-skinned figure rose from his crouched position on the roof of an apartment block, and performed a casual flying leap, landing in front of his young companion.

For a moment, they just stood there, their eyes locked, trying to read through the other's gaze. Finally, the green-skinned man spoke. "Any sign of Doctor Gero?" he asked in his monotone growl.

"Of course there isn't! Honestly Piccolo, do you think I'd have come out if there was? He got whatever he was looking for about five minutes ago, then took off."

Piccolo shrugged. "Did you see where he was headed?"

"No, but I'm guessing he'll head back to the lab. The equipment he was holding looked like machine parts, for a radio transmitter, maybe."

"He might be trying to make another deactivation remote. Would that have any effect on me now I'm a cyborg as well?"

"No. You've only been given an Adrenalin Boost, a few muscle augmentations, an energy enhancer and the absorption nodes on your hands. As you've probably noticed your upgrades have increased your power level significantly, but you're brain would have to be replaced by a positron CPU before he could program you in any way."

"Well, that at least is a consolation. I'm already annoyed enough with this metal garbage he's put in me without it making me vulnerable to his anti-android weapons, but I suppose you wouldn't be so lucky. We're going to have to go after him, aren't we." 

"What did you expect, green man? Did you think we were just going to let him chase us all over the world until he finally caught us?"

Android 17's constant rudeness was starting to get on Piccolo's nerves, but he new that this alliance wasn't going to work if they were constantly arguing, and besides, he remembered the days when he would have said the same thing, and they weren't too long ago. He had needed the android's help to escape from Gero's lab, and in return, he had taken him to Capsule Corp to be repaired afterwards, seriously endangering Bulma and Trunks. At first, imprisoned in Gero's lab, he had thought 17 and his twin sister 18 were just clockwork dolls, looking and speaking like humans, but really just machines going through the motions. Now, his opinion had changed. He had seen emotion break through 17's shell several times over the last few weeks. He had been angry at Doctor Gero for keeping him and 18 locked away in the lab, instead of fighting as they were designed to do. He had been shocked and depressed when Gero killed 18 the day they escaped the lab, and he had almost seemed apologetic when Bulma had found the tracking device injected into his arm, and realized that Doctor Gero would be on his way to Capsule Corp. They had barely escaped that day, and the capsule corp. building had been destroyed, along with the dragon radar. They had hidden Bulma and her family, as well as Master Roshi, Oolong, and Sea turtle in a submarine in the middle of the Southern Ocean, and left to fight Doctor Gero by themselves, knowing that they might endanger the others by involving them, or even staying with them, if the old genius had implanted any more tracking devices. It seemed he had not, because even when he had been only a few hundred meters away from them, he had not tried to attack them. Luckily 17 had no readable energy, and Piccolo was probably more adept at energy suppression than even a Kai. Doctor Gero had been chasing them, and they had been running away from him for three weeks now, and 17's everlasting energy had often pulled Piccolo through when he thought he just couldn't struggle on any more. Of course, he had never let his fatigue show, but in several encounters with their pursuer he had needed to rely on his android companion to fight for him. His robotic upgrades weren't helping either. The metal was reacting badly with his body, so that it hurt him every time he moved his augmented muscles, and the absorption nodes in his hands dug deep into his skin, causing constant sores and blisters. He was barely managing to hold back the pain, and it was slowing him down considerably.

"Well, let's go," Piccolo finally said.

Android 17 grimaced. Secretly, he wanted to keep away from Gero even more than he new Piccolo would. That old man, who had been so absurdly puny when 17 was first activated was now miles above any of the other androids he new of, and a good deal more powerful than both him and 18. Kame, he'd sliced her in half with one attack, even if it was from behind! Goku must have been pretty powerful, much more powerful than Gero had been when he'd absorbed him, and Piccolo had said their was another person who had been absorbed by the old man, who was even stronger than Goku! His name was Vecheka or something, could be Vegeta, but that didn't make sense, because Vegeta had been Goku's arch enemy!

"Well?" Piccolo interrupted 17's reverie. "Are we going or not!"

"Yes, we are." 17 lifted off and blasted away towards Doctor Gero's lab, not looking back to see if his giant green partner was following.  Now that he didn't have 18, he would have to make do for a while, but once this was all over, and he could gather up all those magic dragon balls, he would revive 18, and though he didn't think he'd ever return to his old ways, he new he would feel better with his twin sister and fighting partner back.

The problem was, he somehow couldn't believe that this ever would end.

.

Doctor Gero stood at his workbench, carefully screwing on his Jeweler's eyepiece. He had included Infrared vision in the many enhancements he'd had Android 19 give him, but he had continued wearing it out of habit alone. He leant forward over the components he had spread out on the tabletop, and began to link them together. For weeks, he had been chasing his rebellious Creation #17, and the Namekian subject he had been trying to turn into a twenty-second android. Android 21, who he had nicknamed Cell, didn't seem to be forming quite as he had planned, and besides, he enjoyed his tinkering, and had always wondered what sort of genome a creature such as this would have. Unfortunately, his curiosity had backfired on him. The Namek had turned his two best creations against him, forcing him to seriously damage one, and taking away the other. He had asked his P.A.L network what would be most likely to ensue if he activated Androids 13, 14 and 15, and it had told him that the Namek and #17 would destroy them all, and he would be no closer to reclaiming them. He could tell that its analysis would be correct. 17's recorded energy level was much higher than that of his lesser creations, and after all the operations he had performed on Piccolo, he would probably stand a good chance against them as well.

So he had gone after them alone, and spent a fruitless few weeks chasing them all over the globe. He had come close to catching them several times, but always they had got away at the last second.  Yesterday, 17 had snatched the activation remote from him, and crushed it effortlessly in one hand. Without 17, the Namek didn't stand a chance, but without the remote, he couldn't deactivate 17, and Piccolo's cunning would continue to keep them just out of his reach. So, he had collected the necessary components, and come back here to make five new activation remotes. He had decided that, despite what the P.A.L network had told him, releasing Units 13, 14 and 15 would be his best course of action. Even if they didn't manage to deactivate 17 and recapture Piccolo, they might still give him an idea as to where they were. Besides, the system had been due for some slight recalibrations ever since Android 19 was completed, and what would have been a minor decoding error might now have corrupted some of his important programs, causing the predictions it made to become unreliable. The problem with releasing his inferior creations was that he would have to leave with them to conduct an effective search for his escaped creations. His own organic logic told him that the fastest, safest and most efficient way was to have one android patrol each quadrant, with another back at the lab to guard, and control the Dimensional Bridge if required. He couldn't trust any of his androids to remain here for an extended period of time without supervision, and none of them possessed the necessary qualifications to operate the bridge. The android that remained here would have to be him, which meant he didn't have enough androids. Not unless…

.

Doctor Gero looked down at his latest creation proudly. Since the failure of his last 3 models, all needing to recharge every 300 hours or so, he had started work on this new body, using some of his one time unwilling partner Doctor Frap's old designs. For eighteen months he had labored constantly, when he wasn't adding more information about Goku to the P.A.L network's memory banks, or checking that Goku was still weaker than any of his androids so far. Truthfully, he could have sent one of his earlier mottles to do the job long ago, but he enjoyed his experiments, and wanted to know that he had made the perfect and utterly undefeatable android before he allowed himself the satisfaction of seeing Goku die. Now, he was sure he had finally done it.

The giant lay motionless as a rag doll on the ground in front of his creator. Doctor Gero took a moment to gaze down at the killing machine at his feet, a machine that he had crafted with the quickness of his hands and the brilliance of his mind. This, he thought, was the perfect android, the one that would smite that insolent little boy once and for all.

.

"How wrong I was," he said to himself with a dry chuckle. On activating Android 16, he had soon found that somewhere, somehow in the process of his conception, emotions had been introduced into the artificial intelligence. While 16 was willing to kill Goku, if only to complete his primary program, he do no further harm to the world which he had immediately fell in love with. Doctor Gero had been disgusted with his uselessness, and promptly locked him away, never to be seen again.

Or so he thought…

A/N: Well! What do you think? Did you like the ideas I used? Is there anything you don't like about the story so far? Do you have anything you'd like to happen in the story at some point? Please review, and tell me what you think! Also, I desperately need a better title for this story, so if anybody can think of one, please tell me! Bye for now.

Story Advertising

A/N: Just a tradition I've decided to adopt, so that if you don't like this story I might at least be able to point you to something better.

Title: KiBlind

Author: Sholio

Summary: COMPLETE The Z-senshi have mysteriously lost their ability to control ki, and the Earth is being invaded. Will strategy succeed when brute strength

fails?

JDX's Comments: This is a great story with original ideas and wonderful character development. It's an epic which is not as well known as it deserves to be, so go read it now!


	2. Cracks

Chapter 2:

Cracks

A/N: Congratulations to Gothic Angel5 for being my first reviewer! I've just read that fic of yours, and look forward to its continuation. Anyway… Onto the story! By the way, I've revised the last chapter, but all I did was fix some grammar errors and add the story advertising so you don't need to read it again.

The planet Earth is very large, and the man sweeping the already spotless tiles of the courtyard did not envy its guardian. For hours Kame had floated silently just above the surface of the lookout, his legs crossed, hands in his lap. The situation on the planet below had been grave for a long time now, ever since a certain Saiyan space pod had fallen out of the sky in the East District, and a strange boy was gently lifted out by old master Gohan. That alien boy, who had forgotten his Saiyan ways and become Earth's champion, who had faced dangers like Piccolo, Vegeta and Freeza, had now been defeated by a heart virus from a planet Goku had traveled to in order to help defeat an evil that would never have bothered him had he not wanted to help his friends, and a crazy old scientist who was still alive only because of Goku's kind heart. It seemed unfair that such a noble person should ever have to fall, but now Goku, and all the other Z fighters were gone, and the fait of the world rested in the hands of Kame's darker side, who had once wanted to destroy it.

Three years ago, a boy named Trunks had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, just as the Z fighters were about to fight the robotically enhanced Freeza, and his father Cold. With his super saiyan power he had easily taken down both, and upon Goku's return, had gave him the antidote to the heart virus from which he would suffer in the future, and warned him about the androids that would appear in three years time. Trunks had then returned to his own timeline, and the others had undergone intensive training until the androids arrived. When they came, Goku had suddenly been struck by the heart virus, and had to retreat from the battle. The prideful Vegeta had appeared then, and showcasing his newly acquired transformation he had destroyed Android 19 with little trouble. Then, Android 20 had struck from behind, absorbing the Super Saiyans energy, and leaving him to bleed to death, helpless and alone out on the battle field. In the next few minutes, Krillen, Tien and Gohan suffered similar fates. Piccolo had managed to escape with Bulma and her son, but a few hours later he had been captured by two previously unknown androids, androids that were much more powerful than anything he had ever seen. He was forced to watch as Goku and Yamcha were robbed of their energy and killed by Androids 17 and 20, while 18 held him back, and forced him to look down at the cruel and bloody demise of two of his friends.

Android 20, who Kame had said was really Doctor Gero, had then undertaken various operations on Piccolo, in an attempt to make him into another cyborg, but the crafty Namekian had turned Androids 17 and 18 against their creator, and together they had tried to escape. Android 18 had been destroyed, but 17 and Piccolo had gotten away, and had miraculously avoided capture ever since. 

Mister Popo leant his broom up against a wall and walked over to his silent companion. "Kame? Is everything all right?" he asked worriedly.

Kame's feet touched the ground, as he unfolded his legs and stood again. "No, nothing is right any more, I fear. I have just been speaking to King Kai. He tells me that small cracks are beginning to develop in the barrier between this world and the next. It is as if some force is attacking the formation of the universe, pulling and pushing at the dimensional boundaries that have held for millions of years."

"What does it mean?" Popo asked.

"I don't know, I'm afraid. King Kai has only told me what his feelings say. He is talking with the other Kais now. He will inform me and all the other planet guardians in his galaxy what action they have decided to take once their meeting is over."

"And then?"

"That remains to be seen. The problems our planet is facing at the moment however are more important. Until we learn more about these anomalies there is little we alone can do, but we may be able to help Piccolo a little."

"How can we do that Kame?"

"Well firstly, I think a quick visit to an old friend of mine is in order." Kame's face showed a small smile at some unheard joke as he teleported off the lookout. Mister Popo was not nearly as optimistic. With a sigh, he picked up his broom and continued with his sweeping.

"I hope you'll be all right Kame."

.

Android 17 flew silently over the grim plateau that was labeled in his memory banks as Yunzabit Heights. He new exactly where he was, though he never once looked down at the ground he was flying over. He was hardly even aware of his body at all, in fact, as his mind was focusing on other tasks.

In the days when Doctor Gero had been working for the Red Ribbon army, before Goku had single-handedly destroyed it, he had been asked by some of the more ambitious generals to pass on the task of finishing his eighth android body to the recently kidnapped Doctor Frap, the only member of the Red Ribbon Science Division to possess a similar level of skill. The task he was to work on instead was to construct a system of computers containing all the data in the world, regardless of its form or relevance, and capable of predicting the most likely result of any given action by using the data available to it concerning the person/persons involved, the possibility of any variables that may effect the outcome, and the results of similar actions recorded in history. He had immediately agreed to perform the task, seeing that it was a challenge worth the application of his skills, and at the end of that year, he had completed and presented to Commander Red the Probability Analysis and Logics network (P.A.L network), which, as he was eager to demonstrate, could easily predict the next move he would make in a Chess game, and tell him whether or not a missile would hit its intended target before it was even launched. Sadly, Commander Red didn't seem to appreciate the brilliance of his creation, being too distracted at present by his quest to find seven magical balls, that, at the time, Gero had believed to be little more than a legend. Later on, a small boy had appeared seemingly from no-where, and displaying powers beyond anything within living memory of mankind, had single-handedly defeated the Red Ribbon army, down to the last soldier. Only Doctor Gero had survived, hidden away in his laboratory in the Southern Continent, and his dreams of scientific advancement were gone. Still, he worked on, if at a slower pace, and with far less funding than in his glory days. He kept his P.A.L network in his lab to help him with any "fortune telling", as he called it, and connected most of his future android models to it in order to let them make more informed decisions. Of course, they had their own set of logic circuits installed, so they would not be unable to think properly were the transmitter to malfunction, but it is just not possible to integrate such a large and advanced system into such a small body, and considering the amount of money he had at his disposal, this was the most practical way. In between operations on Piccolo, Doctor Gero had set up connections to the P.A.L network for Androids 17 and 18, a task he had been meaning to complete before he was distracted by difficulties with his android parts, which had lead him into a long and detailed investigation into cyber-organic interfaces. He had obviously forgotten to disable their connections, because 17 was still able to log in at will.

That, of course, was what he was doing now.

In the top right hand corner of the main screen that appeared in 17's mind's eye was a "red alert" icon, flashing urgently for attention. At first, he ignored it, but when it moved it self to directly on top of the menu he was about to enter, he decided that something that Doctor Gero would consider more important than his work must be a great calamity, and that he had better make sure it wasn't dangerous to him before he continued, if indeed it would let him.

The graph that appeared in 17's mind when he activated the alert icon was a representation of unusual temporal activity relating back to that particular era. His programming didn't include temporal engineering, but he new enough from what he had seen of Doctor Gero's papers and diagrams in the lab to tell that something was quite significantly wrong.

Instead of the complicated but unbroken web that usually appeared on a timelines chart, the web was now punctuated by large cracks outlined in red. At the top of the graph, written in bold letters, were the words:

"TEMPORAL DAMAGE DETECTED. IMBALANCE REACHING CRITICAL LEVEL. REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION."

A/N: Is it good? Is it bad? Please review! And a better title would be nice as well…

Story Advertising

ID: 982432

Title: The Saiyan War

Author: Arthain

Summary: Gohan/Videl: The saiyans have been at war with each other for the past 100 years, but the end of the war is near, for good or for evil. Reposted as R-rated

JDX's Comments: The grammar in this isn't that good, but the story is, and it is the prelude to a sequel which is even better!


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